Hockey

BOSTON (CBS) – Toucher & Rich were joined by Boston Bruins general manager Peter Chiarelli on Wednesday’s show, and the discussion started with the impact of Kevan Miller since his arrival and the depth of their defensemen.

Adam McQuaid has missed the last eight games with a lower-body injury, and fellow defenseman Dennis Seidenberg has also missed time after suffering a lower-body injury himself during a game last Tuesday against the Rangers.

To fill that void in an emergency basis, Kevan Miller was called up from Providence and made his NHL debut on November 21. In the three games since his arrival the 26-year-old has been outstanding.

Luckily the Bruins have an embarrassment of riches when it comes to defenseman, including the younger players like Miller, Matt Bartkowski, Dougie Hamilton and Torey Krug to go along with their veterans.

But what happens when everyone is healthy?

“You like what Kevan [Miller] has brought, but in all likelihood he’ll be going back down at some point. The depth allows the guys who have been hurt some time to get healthy.”

“You love to have the depth, but along with good depth comes these hard decisions.”

Peter Chiarelli has a similar stance and feels like it’s more of a skills competition, and most NHL general managers are in favor of some type of system where it starts with a 4-on-4 in the overtime, and then onto a 3-on-3 if that doesn’t decide the winner.

“There’s a large portion of GM’s that think that the 3-on-3 better simulates real play,” said Chiarelli. “That’s where the movement is. But the shootout has high entertainment value so I don’t think we’re going to lose it anytime soon.”

Bruins insider Joe Haggerty of CSNNE was a guest on Toucher & Rich recently and predicted as many as eight Bruins could make Winter Olympic rosters in Sochi.

Haggs amended his take and feels like five is more realistic, but regardless of that there will be at least a handful of Bruins playing overseas in Russia come February.

Peter Chiarelli firmly believes that the Olympics is great for the sport as well as his players, even though he may be a bit apprehensive in nature due to his position within the organization.

“The Olympic experience is a positive. As a manager you lose a little bit of sleep as your key players are going over there with the potential for injury and increasing their fatigue factor, but in general it’s a positive experience.”

“I would wish it on anyone that could make one of those teams…definitely a positive experience.”

In the fourth and final Hour, Felger and Mazz continued to take calls on yesterday’s NHL Trade Deadline. Did Peter Chiarelli do enough to improve the Boston Bruins? The guys also discussed the Patriots, Darrelle Revis, and Devin McCourty. Before the Final Word with Jim, the guys reveal and discuss the New England Revolution’s new 3rd alternate jerseys.